Gulch Highlights

Hi, I’m Jake Wesley Rogers, and I’ll be your guide today on the Gulch Highlights Tour on Nashville Sites. The words “trendy” and “Gulch” would not have been used in the same sentence 100, fifty, or even twenty years ago. Before its most recent redevelopment in the early 2000s, this low-lying area on the western edge of downtown was best known for railroads. This story begins with arrival of the first locomotive to Nashville in the 1850s. Engineers saw the Gulch, named for its topographical depression, as the best path into the city for a new era of transportation and commerce. The Louisville & Nashville railroad, abbreviated as the L&N, became one of the most significant rail lines in the South. In fact, during the Civil War, it was the only major route that allowed the Union Army to supply its troops. After the war, Nashville became a major center of the New South and local leaders capitalized on its location. It was connected by rail to more cities—and in more directions—than any other southern city except Atlanta.

In order to bolster Nashville’s profile as a railroad hub for transportation and shipping, the L&N drafted plans to build a new, luxurious terminal building and train shed. Union Station opened in 1900 and ushered in a golden age of railroads for the next half century. The Nashville-Chattanooga-St. Louis Railway, known as the NC&St.L, was another major company that operated out of Union Station. In the 1950s, these two railroad companies cut back on commuter services, and in 1978 the last train carrying passengers departed Union Station. This shift in transportation was due, in large part, to the construction of a national interstate system, which began in 1956. Unfortunately, it also signaled a period of slow decline in the Gulch neighborhood that would last nearly four decades.

The Gulch you see today is the product of long-term redevelopment that began in the 1980s with the transformation of Union Station into a hotel, and the renovation of the mixed-use Cummins Station in the 1990s. In 1999, MarketStreet Enterprises purchased twenty-five acres south of Broadway via Nashville Urban Venture, LLC. The company chose to build upon the Gulch’s image as a unique area with close proximity to downtown. The result? The Gulch is an urban neighborhood unlike any other in the city. This area is home to an eclectic mix of popular restaurants, music venues, stores, murals, offices, and condos. In fact, many credit the Gulch as the pioneering force behind the “New Nashville” movement—with dining and social experiences that attract residents and visitors alike. In addition, the Gulch was the first LEED certified neighborhood in the South, and its urban design centers on connectivity, walkability, and public transportation.

Welcome to one of Nashville’s hippest neighborhoods and to the Nashville Sites’s Gulch Highlights Tour. All aboard as we begin our story with the area’s most iconic structure—Union Station.